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Responsible Growth requires a plan

By Letters to the Editor

January 29, 2013 | 3 Comments

EDITOR:

I would like to tell you know why I love Shingle Springs.

Our family moved to Shingle Springs from the Bay Area in 2005. At the time, our children were 7 and 9. We used to live on the outskirts of Fairfield, which is a city of more than 100,000 residents. I have experienced hastened growth in my neighborhood before. I watched as fields turned into homes, apartments and low-income housing, which in turn brought traffic, pollution and crime. Our quiet little bedroom community was turning into something nondescript. It was quickly becoming “Anytown USA.” The morning and evening commutes were terrible, and congested. We decided to move out of the “rat race” and settle in the Foothills. Our children have thrived. Even though we have lived here for a relatively short time, we have grown to love this area and plan to live here for many more decades. We currently live on a 1.5 acre parcel, surrounded by homes with similar acreage. We live down the street from the existing ranch land and purchased our home because of the open space. The ranch is currently zoned as R5. I would like to keep the current zoning in place in order to preserve the lifestyle we chose for our family.

When I first learned of the proposed San Stino Subdivision, and Tilden Park, I became concerned. If allowed to go through as written, it will double the population of our little town. We have no infrastructure in place to accommodate such an undertaking. The existing Ponderosa overpass is already overcrowded and poses many safety concerns when it comes to traffic during the morning and afternoon commute times. More often than not, there are cars blocking intersections and lined up to the freeway on the offramp just to get home or drop kids off at the high school. As it is, the overpass needs to be widened and redesigned. If you allow high density rezoning to occur, you are opening Shingle Springs to more developers who are not invested in this community. Responsible growth requires a plan.

This is why it is important to remove the Shingle Springs Community Region Line to prevent irresponsible growth. Our freeway frontage image is a blight. Shingle Springs is becoming a hodgepodge of “Oh yeah, lets put that there” instead of having a cohesive plan when it comes to architecture and design. Constructing a community of over 1,000 Mid to High Density Cookie Cutter Homes doesn’t make sense to our rural community. The Tilden Park Hotel, Restaurant and Market development is planned in the wrong location. Wild Chaparral Drive is not large enough to accommodate the traffic generated by such a project. As a community, we need to have vision and establish a plan for our future. It is my hope that our county supervisors take the best interest of our community to heart, and listen to the people who live here. I wrote my District Supervisor to voice my concerns, and I suggest that Mountain Democrat readers do the same. It is time to unite in order to preserve our way of life.

Our family chose Shingle Springs because of its small town charm, and the carefree life it provides for our children. If we wanted traffic, improper planning and cookie cutter subdivisions, we would have stayed in Fairfield.

TERI SPEEL

Shingle Springs

Discussion | 3 comments

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Liane Bowen, January 28, 2013 - 1:25 pm

Amen, well said. Keep Shingle Springs rural. If the property owners want to sub-divide their properties to match the current zoning designations of RE-5 or RE-1 and are willing to take responsibility for the improvements needed in order to make that happen, I have no problem with that. All things considered, it would be irresponsible for the BOS to allow either one of these projects to move forward.

Diane Shoff, January 28, 2013 - 1:56 pm

As a bay area transplant of 22 years, I too am deeply concerned about the planned developments of Tilden Park, and San Stino. French Creek Road, nor the rest of our community, can support the proposed growth. The area currently zoned R5, should remain R5 so unrestricted and ill advised projects like those mentioned above, should not be allowed to destroy our rural way of life.

Frank Verdin, January 28, 2013 - 8:22 pm

There is a petition being circulated online by the ShingleSpringsCommunityAlliance.com for the removal of the Region boundary line. There is also a "No.SanStino" Facebook page residents may join my clicking "Like" to stay abreast of news. "Keep Shingle Springs Rural!"